Nelson excited by Ronaldo clash

31 July 2011 09:00

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Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson believes there will be excitement at the prospect of Northern Ireland playing against Cristiano Ronaldo after Nigel Worthington's men were drawn to face Portugal in their qualifying group for the 2014 World Cup.

Northern Ireland have some long-distance trips in Group F as they also take on Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.

Nelson said: "When you are in pot four of the seeds you expect some big teams as opponents and we have got some big teams to play, and some others with long distances to travel. It's good to have a marquee name and Portugal have got one those in Ronaldo who is one of the best players in the world and that will certainly help us sell tickets."

He continued: "We are going to be developing Windsor Park over the next four years anyway so we have to work in our games around that, and it's going to be an exciting time."

Boss Worthington's current contract expires after the Euro 2012 tournament and Nelson said any decision on his future would be made after the European qualifying campaign.

He added: "We have five games to go and are still very much in it. We play the Faroes next and if we win that then we will be in great place for potentially getting second place in this group - there is still a lot to play for in Euro 2012."